Watching Aerosmith Rocks Donington 2014, you get the sense that when the Boston quintet came out for their Sunday headlining slot at the three-day Download Festival in Leicestershire, England, the show suddenly became a monumental event, a reverent time to bow your head in honor of one of the most durable rock and roll units to ever roam the earth. The original lineup of Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Joey Kramer, Tom Hamilton and Brad Whitford closed out the festival like grand marshals at a parade. There was an extra spring in their step and an execution in sound and energy that defies their legacy.
The concert film premiered in movie theaters across America in February 2015, and is now on Blu-ray, DVD, CD, vinyl and via download from Eagle Rock. As one of the first shows of their Let Rock Rule tour (or one of their last shows of the Global Warming tour, depending on who you ask), Aerosmith were ‘back in the saddle’ and ready to treat the festival to a wide selection of songs from their colorful catalog. After backstage visits with each of the members, the show blasts off with “Train Kept A Rollin'” and Aerosmith keeps rolling for the next 100 minutes, pulling out one plum after another — “Love In An Elevator,” “Janie’s Got A Gun,” “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing,” “Dude Looks Like A Lady,” “Walk This Way,” “Dream On” and “Toys In The Attic.”
They rip it up on the Beatles’ “Come Together,” remembered as the best thing to come out of the otherwise dreadful Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club movie with Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees. In the movie, Aerosmith played the bad guys; here, they still boost a slothful style and they’re still mouthin’ off — well, at least Tyler is. The few times Perry speaks to the crowd, he’s a complete gentleman. Nevertheless, when Hamilton plays the bass introduction to “Sweet Emotion,” the whole place lights up and Tyler gets the crowd to chant “Yeah” on the turnaround of the main riff. Then the band breaks the imposed curfew with the evergreen rocker “Mama Kin,” and that’s it.
Here is a concert film shot with quick cutaways, sweeping pans and plenty of audience members, mostly young and enthusiastic, distant forethoughts when Aerosmith first exploded onto the scene. They know all the words and look up to Tyler like royalty. Maybe there really was something to that whole American Idol gig. And now he’s doing it up in Nashville. Lord, have mercy. Thankfully, on Aerosmith Rocks Donington 2014, you get a band without the twang and high-jinks, playing their asses off for 50,000 appreciative rock and roll fans like it’s 1975 all over again.
~ Shawn Perry
